Last stand on a burning tank

26th January 1945: Audie Murphy describes the action which saves his Company from being overrun and leads to his Medal of Honor

Soldiers of the U.S. 75th Infantry Division tramp through the snow in the Colmar Pocket sector in the Alsace region. The pocket, which consisted of 850 square miles on the west side of the Rhine River, was the last piece of German-held territory on French soil.

Armoured troops of the French II Corps advance in U.S. tank destroyers during combat operations in the northern sector of the pocket.

Audie Murphy had come a long way since he had landed in Sicily in 1943 as a Corporal and the runner for B Company, 15th Infantry Regiment. A string of promotions and medals had been accompanied by a number of wounds and incapacitation with Malaria.

In October 1944 he had been awarded two Silver Stars and a battlefield commission - but had also been shot in the leg and during subsequent hospital treatment had had muscle removed after gangrene set in. Many men would have taken a long time to recover from such a wound but in January 1945 Murphy rejoined his regiment and soon was back in the thick of the action.

General John W. O’Daniel, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, offers congratulations to Lieutenant Audie Murphy after awarding him the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star.

On January 23, the 30th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division had reached the outskirts of the village of Holtzwihr, the wooded area known as the Bois de Riedwihr. They suddenly encountered 10 tanks and accompanying infantry and sustained heavy casualties before they were forced to withdraw.

“How many krauts?” “Six tanks that I can see, and maybe a couple hundred foot soldiers supporting.”

On the 25th Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Regiment was ordered to attack the same ground again. Losing six out of seven officers and 102 out of 120 men killed or wounded they penetrated 600 yards into the woods and held their position overnight. The eighteen surviving men led by Murphy found it impossible to dig foxholes because of the frozen ground - but they were reinforced by some Tank Destroyers before dawn and later by a Forward Artillery Observer.

Audie Murphy¹ describes the position on the 26th as they waited in the freezing cold for the German counter-attack which must inevitably come. Their orders were to hold the position and wait for reinforcements: